island rider

For medical and wife-related reasons I'm not racing this year. I've been riding a bunch, and am at or near my best ever bike fitness, but it's tough to justify 12ish hours a week in July and August of this year when my next race isn't going to be until next spring. I've decided to throw in a tri or two in August and September (and been doing a bit of running and swimming) to keep up my motivation... but it's tough. Are any of you in the same or similar boats? Have you been? Have you been able to keep up motivation?

globecanvas

Yes! The tail end of my season got derailed by my son's injury so I've been thinking a lot about goals for next season. I have some specifics but I'll save them for the inevitable goals-for-next-season thread in November.

Creatre

Yup. 8 months away from the bike, then knee injury derailing my comeback after trying too hard.

Taking it easy and expecting to start focusing on 2015 once I get my knee squared away. Hoping to start getting focused and in a routine in September.

mattm

Definitely. Injury earlier this month has kept me out of racing the last 4 weeks, and probably the next 4 as well..

I'm luckily that there will still be a few races left on the calendar even then, but I'll be out of shape anyway.

So yeah, next year - start fresh hopefully! Nationals is in the area next year, so certainly looking forward to that, along with some NRC races. Time to step **** up!

island rider

I've been off this site for a while this summer, at the risk of re-visiting already covered ground, this is the first I've heard of an injury to your son... I hope he's ok.

Ygduf

I've been looking at next year for this entire year. I'm racing age 35 next year!

island rider

I figure August and September will be a bit more of a cross training combo, then start in focused in October looking to some early Spring goals.

I was looking forward to this year, I'm 39 with a racing age of 40. I was hoping the extra year would give me a leg up on all the old guys... by which I mean get dropped by 'Masters'.

carpediemracing 

First week of March in 2013 I realized it wasn't going to be a good year. I started doing everything with the thought of being better in 2014 and it made the season much more tolerable. This year I've been a bit better but lost a lot in April/May so I have reverted to the "next year" thought. It's not like I don't try now, it's just that I have no expectations and I want to get unsettled things settled (like getting a second custom stem for my other bike, getting better pedals, getting a second set of 175 crank arms for my second SRM, etc).

I find it pretty reasonable to ride with next March in mind. I guess it's easier for me since I've approached decades of racing where once August rolls around I'm thinking of March. Moving that thought forward a month or three isn't that hard, plus with family vacations (where I can bring the bike) we're already scheduling trips in Sept etc so I'm already thinking of "okay I can do some training at such and such time".

island rider

In order for my year to shape up well I need you to be VERY BUSY on weekends in March 2015. Here's hoping you get to use your trailer.

mattm

=[

globecanvas

Thanks... he broke his leg in a not very good way, so he's in a groin-to-toe cast for 6 weeks. He'll heal, probably with no permanent effects, but for now he's very frustrated and needs constant attention. He doesn't handle sitting still well in general, and has a tendency to self-pity, so it's not a great situation. Last night he was in a bad spiral of despair from 1:30-3:30am, crying and saying "why did I have to break my leg?" over and over. He's basically unreachable when he's like that so all we can do is sit with him and let him cry it out.

In the long view, it's not a big deal at all, but we're 3 days into a very long 6 weeks.

gsteinb

why does your fitness hinge on a race 2 hours away?

globecanvas

I think he's only a half hour from Bethel, but he may not know that CDR's talking about moving to New Britain, which is a bit farther. Not 2 hours though.

I guess I could let him speak for himself though :/

island rider

Sorry to hear it I can't imagine the pain if my sons went through that (the ones I was cursing in front up at Hunter). I know it was bad enough for me this winter suffering through my own self-pity. Good luck with it.

gsteinb

yeah I got where island rider was confused I guess.

island rider

A bit more than a 1/2 hour, but yeah, I can ride to the races and back. It's not that my fitness hinges on it, it's that I was looking forward to it being a good start to the year.

Yeah, GStein, I'm on the coast in CT now. Was on LI a few years back.

gsteinb

Yeah it was a good start to the year. We should shun CDR for moving it, I think

globecanvas

Always a bit confusing when user names get obsoleted by events... for example, I always assumed MDCatV was a cat 5 doctor.

MDcatV

nah, i just play one on tv

Creatre

lol.

island rider

Reminds me of the guy who got checked out by Dr. Suess at a dinner party.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I never had a 2014 race season. Am I looking forward to 2015? I guess so. The jury is still out on whether I can turn things around form-wise, but I've seen some promising bits of improvement so far.

The caveat is that, even when I was on top form, I was still no better than midpack in the regional events, so there's that.

ShutUpLegs

I wouldn't say I'm already looking to next season as I gave just hit my second half peak and have some big races this weekend. But I have been thinking about next year and making notes as to my training plan and focus.

grolby

For road, yes, it's all about next year. But I need to remember: it's only the end of July. There are five months left in the year, with plenty of racing still to do. Lots of time to turn things around and have a fun cyclocross season. Maybe not the best ever, in terms of results, but that doesn't mean I can't have some solid races.

hack

i'm looking forward to it. in February i crashed out, separated my shoulder, and missed a few races i had been looking forward to in the early part of the season. i came back with limited fitness and scrapped some good results together to get the upgrade i wanted, but am looking forward to some funner road races next year (e.g., Snelling, Madera, and Chico).

also, like fudgy, i'll be racing age 35 and the race options will open up. i think at some crits next year i can race as many as 5 times as a 35+ cat3 (E3/4, E3, E2/3, 35+ 123, 35+ 3/4).